How to Prepare For Rally in 2011: Strategists

The stock market’s modest rally this month is an indication of an equity market revival in 2011, said Brett D’arcy, chief investment officer at CBIZ Wealth Management, and Tim Courtney, CIO of Burns Advisory Group.

“We saw improving numbers again with unemployment, and 2011 is going to start off well,” D’arcy told CNBC.

“It’s not a point to jump off equities at this point—you really want to stay with it.”

Expect an increase in interest rates and a stronger dollar to be the main themes in 2011, D’arcy said.

In the meantime, Courtney said the markets are going to head higher in the next few quarters because there’s already a lot of bad news priced into the market.

“So when terrible news doesn’t materialize, the market has been going up on marginally good news,” he explained. “So the odds are, it’s going to move forward.”

Courtney said investors should prepare by investing in small caps, as they tend to perform the best during recoveries.

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Scorecard—What They Said:

• Courtney's Previous Appearance on CNBC (Nov. 30, 2010)
• D'arcy's Previous Appearance on CNBC (Nov. 8, 2010)

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More Market Views—Across the Board:

• Prepare for a 'Very Frustrating' Market in 2011: Pro
• Use Coming Pullback as Buying Opportunity: Strategists
• Stocks to See 'Double-Digit Return' in 2011: Paulsen

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CNBC Data Pages:

• Dow 30 Stocks—In Real Time
• Oil, Gold, Natural Gas Prices Now
• Where's the US Dollar Today?

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CNBC Slideshows:

• Old Professions Make A Comeback

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Thursday's Top Dow Laggards (as of this writing):

Kraft Foods

Pfizer

Du Pont

Merck

American Express

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Disclosures:

No immediate information was available for Courtney or D’arcy.

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Disclaimer